|
Turkish Sailor Oruc Reis is the son of Ebu Yusuf
Nurullah Yakub. He learned Greek, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and French. He begun maritime
with his brother Ilyas Reis. He was slaved by the Knights of Rhodes. He escaped and
entered the protection of the Mameluke Sultan Gansu Gavri. While he was commissioned by
the Mameluke Navy he was attacked by the Knights of Rhodes in Alexandria Gulf. He begun
pirating with the ship that Korkud Chelebi gave. He pillaged the Italian coasts. When
Sultan Selim I ascended the throne, Oruc Reis left the Anatolian cost and went to
Alexandria. He settled in Cerbe island. His brother Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha joined him
there. He became a name in all the Western Mediterranean Sea. He lost one of his arms in a
war with the Spanish Navy. He sent gifts to Sultan Selim I and the Sultan sent him two
swords with diamonds on and two ships. Algerians invited Oruc Reis to save them from the
Spanish and he went to Algeria in 1516. He defeated the Spanish Navy and settled in
Tlemsen. He defended the region from Spanish attacks more than six months. At last, he
destroyed the Spanish lines with his forty men. He died in Salado river fighting with the
Spanish Navy commanded by Garcia de Tineo, in 1518, in Algeria. |
|